Hello, welcome to Galactic News Network's new channel! We are now being broadcast to over 250 warp capable planets, and over 1000 prewarp worlds! This makes us the largest news broadcasting agency in the galaxy.

With the change, we will regularize our anchors, and use regular journalists as a support team. We will be proud to introduce them in our next broadcast.

GNN also requests that each alliance Minister of Communication keeps in contact with GNN news for special announcements, reports of battles, membership changes, and other stories you want broadcasted to the galaxy. Please PM this account.

We would also like to take this opportunity to share with you, our viewers and journalists, the GNN code of ethics:
-Sources will NEVER be revealed
-Coords and other sensitive information will not be broadcasted or shared
-GNN news will have no affiliation with any alliance.

Our stories will often have a "tilt", or bias, to them. This is acceptable, and unavoidable due to the fact that we accept all newsworthy stories, and journalists in the field tend to favor their own side. If you feel that you or your alliance has been slighted, or a story was broadcast incorrectly, please feel free to PM GNN news, or post in the topic: "Letters to the Editor"

We at GNN take pride in bringing you the best in headline news, often bringing you latebreaking stories as they happen.

We have two flags captured, the flag of ICP by TO, and playbuntje by TLA.

Here we show Connor with the Clone's flag, making good of a retreat

And here is a recent photo of citizens from The Light Alliance homeworlds enjoying their capture of playbuntje's flag

We have no information of any plans to recapture these flags, as the de-flagged alliances are stunned and still reeling from the shock.

In other news, Mighty's "Alliance of Alliances" has not come off the ground yet. In an attempt to recruit players and show his power, Mighty has offered the coords of any -TO- member for a reasonable fee, in a new promotional offer called "TO coords give away". He has also offered up DSP information to any player willing to attack.

Here is a statement from his press release:

"If your intrested to optain a copy of it please pm me with 9 coords (anybody's coords) and in return you will get the names and coords of the 11 TO memebrs. including complemntry coords and a copy of an updated deep scan for Guns of August and D Man of Drempleworld "

Im Pete Whittaker, and this is Katie Salinator, and this is GNN's weekend summary. It's one of our many new features, where we sum up the week, and post the leaderboards for you all.

Well Katie, it has certainly been an interesting week here, hasnt it?

Yeah, Pete. The scoreplanet occupation board shows:

the alliance Total Ownage has control over the Black Hole at 500/500/50

the alliance The Red Army has control over the Chronoton Nebula at 433/480/44

the alliance NeutralZone has control over the Graviton Pulsar at 429/510/52

We havent heard about much excitement at the score planets, other than a brief showing by non allied player "please dont kill me of I am new". He held a planet for a while, which is surprising with a name like that.

Thats right Katie. Never would have thunk it. Don't we have a feature on him coming up?

Yeah, he was interviewed by our own Klaaak Kazuuul, to be aired later this week. Not surprising, NeutralZone still dominates the Pulsar. In a surprise move, Total Ownage has the BH, even under the shadow of unified attack. Which brings us to our next story.

During the week Mighty, from the forums, issued a statement condemning TO, and began recruiting entire alliances for a massive assault. He then, to enhance his forces, offered free coordinates of -TO- members, and DSP scans of certain targeted members, Dman and August.

Today, we have reports that -TO- has discovered Mighty's secret ingame identity, and launched a small attack force to his planet, which was supposedly the planet of the Inventor. Subsequent to the first battle, Inventor lost all warp capabilities, and became inactive. How's that for blowing someone into the stone age?

Not confirmed Katie. Mighty denies that he had any association with Inventor's planet, other than stopping there for coffee once, and also using it as a herring to lure out unfaithfuls from his alliance. Mighty maintains that his planet is still untouched and secret.

Are you tired of drinking out of a boring, plain, nondescript coffee mug? Do you want to show off your favorite game, while supporting it at the same time? Well, we would like to introduce, the stylish, sexy, Spacetrace Mug!!!

We have two models available, on for you and a companion mug for your wife or significant other. These mugs have been tested, and can succesfully hold the following beverages:
Coffee, black
Coffee, cream added
Hot chocolate, with or without marshmallows
Tea, all varieties
Hot apple cider
These mugs also have shown excellent performance with almost any cold or room temperature drink as well; water, milk, or carbonated beverages. Stop by, and see us today at the Spacetrace Shop!_________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.

Today, we are proud to air an exclusive interview with Spyder, of Space Mercenaries, Inc.

A little background, SM is one of the oldest recurring alliances around. They hold a neutral attitude, and politics aside, work for the highest bidder. Some look upon Mercs with disdain, as they do not fight for their beliefs. Others look upon them with envy, what it must be like to be a cold blooded Mercenary! All look upon them with respect, when a Merc is hired to do a job, that job is done, and done right.

GNN-What kind of jobs do you do?
We are always open to suggestions, We do co ord trades, base busting, scoreplanet clearing, you name it.

GNN-Do you work for alliances primarily, or single players?
We can do either, if an alliance wants help in a war, they can hire all of us, or one of us can join them for a certain period of time.

GNN-What are your prices?
Prices are always subject to negotiation, an example would be for war participation ,a quite difficult job, We would require a full com list, and possession of the hirers flag for the duration. For a single event perhaps a fleet of 1000 figtherss and a mother ship delivered to a set co ordinate. But these are only guidelines, individual mercs can set their own price for any job they like.

GNN-Do you have any regular allies, or are all others equal in your eyes?
We have no allies and no enemies, occasionally our planets are visited by unwelcome guests, but nothing out of the ordinary.

GNN-Is work hard to come by nowadays?
Well, persuading players to pay can be difficult, I cannot think how many times people have asked us to go up against TO for free!!! Not gonna happen folks, unless you can come up with a decent offer.

GNN-Do you offer any guarantees?
Nothing is certain in the galaxy, we guarantee to try our utmost to complete the task at hand, I have on one occasion lost many thousands of points trying to help an alliance. In that instance I waived my fee and took the loss.

GNN-Thank you for the interview.

Spotlight! is an amazing new addition to all the great upgrades here at GNN news! We will keep the interviews coming on Spotlight!

GNN news, your finger on the pulse of Spacetrace!_________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.

The ICP issued a press release, in which several skirmishes are mentioned, between the Duke and TO player "Highlander", which our analysts believe to be Connor.

Official ICP Announcement wrote:

The Duke faced the highlander at his homeplanet, which was guarded with all the manpower of the Highlander. Facing the cowardice and honourless highlander the Duke gave him the opportunity to prove him self. But all his manpower could not prevent the Duke wiping his homebase out: Not one building stands !!!!!

caption: Connors base getting the boot

Our sources confirm that Connor's base was cleared earlier. It is unknown whether or not the ICP gained points from the attack, as several TO members are claiming wins today, including Connor, who claims a small point increase.

However, the loss of researchtime, TWG usage, and the high costs of rebuilding a Shipyard have Connor reeling from the blow. It is confirmed that a second wave hit Connor, and his fleets were decimated.

The announcement goes on to describe the attack:

Quote:

An honourable whiping away of the base is where it is guarded with all available manpower!

The letter has a very hostile tone, mirrored by reports from TO members. It seems that this war will be dragged out for a long time._________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.

Good day, GNN Newstalk, Klaaak Kazuuul reporting live from planet "I am new", discussing the rising career of "please dont kill me of I am new ". You may recognize this name, he has taken the Nebula several times, and without an alliance! Foes such as The Light Alliance, NeutralZone, the Mercs, and Commies have all gone up against Please dont kill me, but he steps away, undaunted. He claims to have renamed the Chronotron Nebula, "The Noobula", showing his lack of fear, and his solid determination. Hi, Please dont kill me.

PDKM- Hi Klaaak.

GNN- How many times have you occupied one of the scoreplanets?
PDKM- Well to be honest this round was the first time I visited any score planets. I have been playing around the nebula just to gain experience fighting multiple fleets. It is a great learning experience.

GNN- How many fleets do you usually have to fight to win a scoreplanet?
PDKM- It varies according to what is going on at the time. If a big war is on the score planets may be deserted entirely, but many players will visit them if nothing else is going on. Many of the top players will lurk nearby score planets looking for juicy and sometimes disabled targets.

GNN- Which is your favorite scoreplanet, and why?
PDKM- If I had to choose I guess it would be the Black Hole, but I never seem to be able to respawn in a location convienient to it.

GNN- How long have you been playing?
PDKM- In spite of my deceptive name I have some experience. My first life I played nanite I the Balrog alliance as skullpants of Exploring Uranus and was given advise by Gorth and my then alliance mate Connor Mc Cloud. My second life I played e-ray and formed my own alliance, the controvercial HORNY squad. I spent most of that round battling Spyders ICP alliance. My third life I played mycilloid and joined Spyder in ICP to fight TO. I was offered a spot in TO by Darmodon which I declined. At that time I considered TO to be a collection of the best players in Spacetrace so I did not want to join them because I wanted to fight against them. I learned a lot from those battle reports. I took a short break during the summer. In this, my fourth life my original plan was to name myself "please dont kill me of I am new" and act like a noob long enough to attract the attention of a few noob bashers and then give them the suprise of their lives, but I am happy to report that no one took the bait and I only recieved good advise from those I encountered. I started playing the nebula or as I renamed it the noobula out of sheer boredom.

GNN- Name some alliances you have fought and won against?
PDKM- Well won is a subjective term in this game. I have tried to fight with and against the best players in the and have learned much from all of them. The thing that makes this game so much fun is that your friends can be your enemies and your enemies can be your friends. I often chat with the player I am attacking and also with those attacking me. Trash talk or friendly chat but when the smoke clears I always remember it is just a game so I do not take it too seriously as I plot my revenge or boast of my victory or congradulate my worthy opponent.

GNN- Are you in an alliance right now? If so, which one? If not, why?
PDKM-Well I was playing un allied but I just joined Spyders mercs. Spyder is one of the most organized leaders in the game. He is also the player I launched my very first attack on. I gained over 2000 points and he was very gracious as he launched his counter attack, lol.

GNN- Thanks for the interview, Please dont kill me.

PDKM- Thanks Klaaak.

GNN- Sounds like the Mercs landed themselves a good one here. This concludes our special report. GNN Live, Im Klaaak Kazuuul._________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.

We have recieved some reports that some mysterious messages have been located on a planet near the Black Hole. Witnesses have stated that they believe these writings are the work of the "Travellers". We go live to our in-the-field coorespondant Samuel J. Baxter. Sam?

I'm here Katie. I am coming to you live from the GNN Space Copter 4.

We are on the way to pre-warp planet Ach Wie Ich Oh Toll. Reports right now are sketchy, but it is believed that some ancient ruins have been uncovered, with some hieroglyphs dating back possibly hundreds of thousands or millions of years.

Here is a photograph that was sent from planet Ach Wie's inhabitants:

This stone differs from the pre-warp planet History Stones. The pre-warp History Stones are more of a "message board", so to speak, which has been marked by passing fleets. History Stones are always located at the planet's equator, and no vegetation or soil ever covers it, as if they contained some mysterious protective field.

This new stone was uncovered after remains of a Doomstar struck the planet, originating from a battle at the Black Hole.

Several scholars and scientists have already examined the site, and it is believed to be decypherable.

Several planets and alliances are preparing envoys, with historians, scholars, linguists, codebreakers, and of course, a full contingent of warships. It is unknown whether or not this information will be freely shared by players, or if it will be contested, hence the armadas ready for battle.

We should have the planet in sight within a couple of hours, and we can give a more detailed report at that time. Back to you, Katie.

Thanks Sam.

We also have a report of a possible wormhole being located at this planet. Unknown whether the construction of this wormhole has a connection to the stone.

Esteemed member of TO, and top scorer here on Spacetrace, William Wallace is a controversial character, feared, loved, hated, and respected. We have all seen him speak his mind without hesitation, including a controversial posting-of-the-coords-in-the-forum move.

Here's Klaaak Kazuuul with William Wallace, only on GNN!

GNN- Thanks for the interview, William.
Wiliam- You're welcome. It's an honor.
GNN- We understand that you have created your own alliance, The Flying Dutchman. Congratulations on your position as second ranked alliance! How did you do it so fast?

Wiliam- I dont intend on giving up members info and other important stuff, but I can say that of TFD's score, 57 k is from my old account, which is no longer in use and will dissapear soon.

GNN- Why did you leave the MH?

Wiliam- The moment I joined MH, I allready had an alliance like this in mind. And when the war with The red amry was over, I knew the time was there. So I waited until september 12th, my Spacetrace birthday and I started this.

Maybe I can tell a bit about myself. In the beginning of march, my account: Brutus of Taking Revenge was accused ( I dont want to talk about this any further. ) And when I started my new account ( Elder Priest of Hammerfall ), I didn't have an alliance, but suddenly I was invited by Blackmagic. An enormous honor. So I joined them, first fighting TO alongside Mighty, then fighting against DBD, and then my account was allready about to end.

Wiliam- Well, I had a lot of good contacts, and even when we aren't playing together or sometimes even entirely not playing, we still keep in touch.

So I just had to ask around if anybody was interested in joining a strong, fresh new force.

GNN- We understand that they were invite only. Was it difficult recruiting them?

Wiliam- Not at all. As soon as I got my hands on their email or msn adresses or even their ingame names, I could inform if they allready had an alliance, and if they maybe were interested.

GNN- Are all your members veterans, or do you have some newer players?

Wiliam- Let's just say you could call every one of them at least experienced, intermidiate. Being skilled ain't an requirement. I've seen pro's having a bad time and only scoring 16 k in 3 months.

GNN- The Flying Dutchman. How did you come up with the name?

Wiliam- At first, I wanted to take the name The Samurai, but as soon as I realised all current members were Dutch, I got with this wonderfull name.

GNN- What are you going to attempt to accomplish with TFD? Any attempt at the scoreplanets?

Wiliam- Well, I had this great idea about ''The Great Hunt'', but admin ignored my topic of arranging alliances compared to their huntscore. Hunting down ''It'' gives quite some nice points plus credits, so I dont understand why people don't do it that much.

Maybe if my idea would be reconsidered, more people would compete, as there would be another way of being first place alliance.

GNN- Any enemies yet?

Wiliam- No, not yet. But just relax and wait how the game develops. I got 2 allies, those are NZ and MasterHunters.

GNN- The leader board shows your evolution is about finished. What next?

Wiliam- That's my old account. I dont use it anymore. My new one is: WiliamWalace of Samurai.

The delete tool didn't work, so I'll just wait until it reaches 100%.

GNN- Did you notice that SOAT is now abandoned? I remember you two being quite a pair of rivals.

Yeah, that's too bad. I was just about to plan some visits and give his base a hard time. I thought it was time for some sweet revenge.

GNN- You and Connor McCloud are both Scottish heroes. Any rivalry between you two?

Connour is a good friend of mine, so are some others in his alliance. I think that no matter alliance policies, we are ready to help each other out if needed. That we both are fans of movies like ''Highlander'', ''Rob Roy'' and ''Braveheart'' only makes it even more fun.

GNN- Anything you want to tell the viewers at home?

I'd like to say: All have good luck and a nice time ingame. I hope the forum will become even more fun and the IRC even more active. I hope our community get's even stronger and that TFD can help achieving that.

GNN- Thanks a lot, William.

Wiliam- It was fun doing this, and I wish you good luck with making news.

This has been a prerecorded interview, Klaak Kazuuul, GNN interview team.

the alliance Cold Blooded Killers has control over the Black Hole at 500/500/50

the alliance The Light Alliance has control over the Chronoton Nebula at 433/480/44

the alliance NeutralZone has control over the Graviton Pulsar at 429/510/52

The Cold Blooded Killers are currently occupying our number one spot at the Big Black. We have a report that the fleet there battled TO, and then took a hit from the Space Mercs, leaving his fleets stranded. It is unknown at this time whether more fleets will come to bolster his defense, or if a rescue fleet is being prepared. The CBK as an alliance has increased activity, and GNN is keeping our eyes on them.

The Light Alliance begun their campaign for the Nebula on Saturday. Reports state that they had some tough battles getting in, but did score victories. It seems they had some up and down battles with the Mercs recently there, but TLA came out slightly ahead. Recently interviewed Please Dont Kill Me suffered at TLA's hands during the struggle. Congrats to Rhynar and the boys! Keep up the good work.

NeutralZone of course still holds the Pulsar. We are proud to announce the airing of our interview with NeutralZone, spotlighting two of their top members, DavAlan and Renee Davis, coming up next!

The boards appear to be stabilizing, after WilliamWallace and Demonios Rojos topped out and began their trek to the the Hall of Fame. Connor McCloud will be clearing out soon, and the rest will vie for positions. The number 10 spot has not been contested by anyone not on the list, and it is unknown the gap between 10 and 11.

TO still holds the "top dogs" position atop the alliance rankings, with their Academy gaining ground. The Mercs are holding in second, even after the recent evolution maxing. NZ holds third, an impressive feat knowing that their score comes almost exclusively from Pulsar occupation and defense. The Flying Dutchman finishes the list, after the conversion from the Samurai alliance of last week.

Also in this week's news, we have the beginnings of a mission. The prize is uncertain as of yet. There has been no press release on the status of players attempting the mission. We hope to get some information from adventurers pursuing the goal soon.

This has been your weekly update, I'm Katie Salinator, good day._________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.

We are proud to introduce our "Interview from NeutralZone Command", by Klaaak Kazuuul, GNN Interview Staff. This is a lengthy interview, but the insight into NeutralZone is fantastic, and nothing could afford to be cut. This interview will certainly teach some of the fledgling alliances some good tactics. We also will publish a demonstration of DavAlan's patented "Hyperdrop" calculation method in a future program.

For now, sit back, have some chocolate milk, and enjoy the interview!

GNN- Tell us a little about NeutralZone. What are you about?

DavAlan: Well I originally started NZ merely to give myself an mtwg to use. My strategy is very dependent on the mtwg / twg system
esp. for fast raids and takeovers. But after hearing my ravings about my rather short Chronotron Nebula campaign against WoC back in June, about 5 players from another game and my girlfriend Renee decided to start ST and join my alliance. We started with a policy of not sacking base structures of others except as retaliation for the same but, we over-reacted in one case. So now we just let it go on for a little while before responding with a base hit. Most NZ battles involving bases are defensive, a few have been offensive though but we still focus on fleets over structures. We only retaliate for base hits on our members, there are no NZ retaliations for hitting us at the graviton. Generally we roll out the "welcome mat" to online incominings on the graviton pulsar with a pm wishing them luck, etc. We also put emphasis on ships limited to taking out other ships instead of class 4 ms's and structures as we focus on eliminating fleets over bases.
Currently, we have no real enemies and are rather loosely allied and assosciated with TO / MH and thier "splinter alliances" but this is not binding and indeed "friendly fire" and other hits from our allies do take alot of points off our score. The classic ***-up with attack codes among allies forced us to use defensive mode when cooperating with others. During the TO / TRA war we lost around 8k points due to mistaken attacks, attacks from a rogue member of an ally alliance, and by liftting a very long and heavy seige on an ally with a series of suicide attacks that cost us a few hundred but, completely devastated the siege (gang bang squad, actaully) off of that base enabling that ally to clean up w/ a > 10 k point gain. So any offensive actions on our part would have been stymied by our allies.

GNN- Davalan, you founded NZ, but now Renee is leader. Why the changeup?

DavAlan: Well shortly after Renee started, my last round was at 100% evo with dominion on the way :S So we made Renee temporary leader until I could get back up on research. Loss of mtwg control was a problem and we had none until Renee researched it first.
During this time, Renee's score shot up to 10k at 20% evolution with only one offensive battle and a series of graviton defenses against a poorly organized alliance, making her. by far, our best and deadliest player in NZ within 2 weeks of her start.
We also carry the distinction of not only having one of the few ...only ? maybe?...female st players in our alliance but, are lead very effectively by one.

Renee: David told me I would remain leader if my relative score got over the max he had on the last round, so that sealed my posistion within 2 weeks. We also determined I am a little better at negotioations where David can be rather rash some of the time and indecisive the rest...no offense to him by any means.
David serves as our strategy and intel commander he is an expert in calculatiing what he refers to as a "hyperdrop"
and can hit a target with a warp 15 appoach without leaving an incoming warning on the target and a presence of 40 minutes max in a dsp Using his calculations we often pass directly over the target in hyperwarp from dozens of sectors away.
He has programmed a high accuracy calculator for hyperdrop and intercept calculations and we have been very quick in response to members being attacked lately by implementing this application. Now he is working on adding in a vector calcualtor to detemine destination, point of departure and speed of a fleet in DSP from the data it gives you.
That will give us a definate edge in "ST technology". We have used a prototype of this one twice to a successful set of determinations. David says those direction indicators on a dsp reading conceal vector components visible as numbers when you copy and paste a dsp reading.

GNN- Congratulations on the Pulsar occupation! How did you do it?

DavAlan: After watching the method (via DSP) the method TO was using to retain the Black Hole and (by direct battles), methods used by the now disbanded Warriors of Chaos, we started with an initial takeover back in early July. There was a "power vacuum" in ST then that we took advantage of. We lost it within 3 days but, took it back a week later by letting all the alliances go off on each other to the point where there was actaully very little left to overcome.
One thing about being hit by offline players at a score planet is once they battle your fleets there and, if they survive, then they are assisting with your defense for the next incomings as long as the next are from another seperate alliances. This strategy enabled us to hold off some of the really powerful players sometimes but, we were losing points a slow pace. The problem was in our fleets. Each fleet was meant to take out an entire incoming
So I worked out a set of fleets where each fleet strips an incoming of an entire class or two until someome gets the ms. Then we started gaining mass points off of incomings. Another vital factor is Renee and I live in California and we have members on the US east coast, UK, Denmark and Germany so, we are able to maintain an online vigilance most of the time.
Often, even when most NZ have been offline for a few days, I am able to get most on within 30 minutes if I want to via MSN, a pm in that other game, or (between Renee and I) a phone call.
Incomings on the graviton often find a dormant NZ has entirely logged on about 15 minutes due to thier arrival. A major stategy we use is for onlines to jump at the last moment in advance of an incoming and let the offlines take the initial hit then turn back.
Knowing what each NZ has in their fleets is vital to this strategy and we are always saving and updating intel from our fleets menu to help with this.

Renee: Mycolloid fleets rule!!! And we maintain 3 or more at the graviton as much as possible. We use E-Ray and Human fleets to do mop-ups.
Although DavAlan is really good in all cases.
Most incomings immediately vanish in a spam of battle reports. They use to get points off of us this way but, recently we reversed that.

GNN- How has traffic been at the Pulsar? Have you had many battles?

Renee: I have a fleet there now with one on the way. This is not because of an incoming, our last battle there was over 2 weeks ago.
We are using the graviton as a "munitions supply" and can get a large force to even the most distant NZ base within 8 hours with the MTWG there.

DavAlan: Until one month ago, battles at the graviton made up 80% of or conflicts, it is now 20%. Our battles now mostly consist of defending member bases as members with most of thier mp are obvious vunderables to base hits. We use our less actives to hold the pulsar while Renee, Skipper and myself do all of the inter-base defense and patrolling as well as the recent raids Renee and Skipper did on the Chronotron Nebula.
The graviton pulsar is a regular stop for us especially with our mtwg there. And we change out ships every few days, more due to them being needed elsewhere but, also to make us less predictable.

GNN- How long do you plan to keep the Pulsar for? Future plans for other scoreplanets?

DavAlan: We will hold the graviton for as long as possible. The chonotron remains a rather "hot spot" and we do raids there often to break the monotony a few members may have and to gather intel on other players and the fleets they use.

GNN- We at GNN respect the fact that NeutralZone is rarely, if ever, seen bickering with anyone in the forums. Is this part of your image?

DavAlan: Yes, we would rather anyone we have problems with to find any "pm's" from us under "battles" instead of on the forum. Sometimes we have gotten into the word war on the forum but, when we do, we stop posting anything until the issues we were ranting over have been resolved with action and then there is not really much left to say.

Renee: Like Teddy Rooselvelt once said "speak softly and carry a big stick".

GNN- Of course, there are rumors around that TO, who is friendly to NZ, will want to come back to the Pulsar to take the #1 spot back. Is there a plan in place for this contingency?

DavAlan: Yes, the same as usual, hold out against anyone at all odds and costs To lose the graviton now would hardly be a setback and rather the start of another great offensive.
And the other score planets are always out there too, the graviton just happens to be the closest to 60% of our alliance and our upcoming restarts could change that drastically. As it stands now, the graviton and the black hole are quite distant from our alliance center and would be a logistical problem for us.

Renee: I think TO would find themselves over-extended with the Black Hole and the Graviton together. We are unable to hold 2 score planets longer than a day ourselves. And some of thier enemies would be very likely to take advantage of that and start hitting thier bases, especially with all thier power vacated to 2 score planets.

GNN- NeutralZone has been a solid score earning team, but has not rocketed into the superpower status, earning into the hundreds of thousands of points. Is this your style, to take it slow and easy?

Renee: Unlike alot of others we actaully shun the easy points and victories and go for uncertain battles as a real challege. If you want to really be safe from NZ attack, a totally empty base is the best base defense of all. But be warned, your fleets are fair game and are targeted as a priority.
We consider the 1000 points for a shipyard and research center to be quite trivial and to be an effort requiring no skill just, a rather mean attitude. And our recent exclusion of large numbers of ships such as penguins, kamikazes, etc or large numbers of fighters, destroyers, cruisers in our fleets used to retaliate prevent us from accidenty taking those structures out. We put emphasis on the use of ships such as interceptors, sabotage fighers, bounty hunters, hammers, blockade runners, plasma gunships, apollos, cyclopses, spectres and ships that either can not attack buildings or would be impracticle to build up 3500+ ap with. However the defense array remains a common and unavoidable victim.
DavAlan: To get into the top player spot will mean you have alot trying to displace you. We consider the top player list to be a bit of a misnomer in the fact that score is not relative to skill but, leave that to the others. We generally seek to leave a more permanent "mark" in the hall of fame listings and one that indicate true teamwork rather than individual effort.

In an effort to provide a more consistant and accurate news broadcast, the Admin of Spacetrace has provided each and every one of you with a direct line to Galactic News Network, YOUR source for information.

Simply go to your headquarters screen, scroll down, and you will see your very own personal link to message GNN. To send news to GNN, simply put a header in the subject line, fill out the body of the message with your report, and send. VERY IMPORTANT: You must remember to put something in the subject line, or your message will be unreadable.

We hope this facilitates communication between you, the viewer/reporter/embedded journalist, and us, GNN news, the compiler/informer/historian of Spacetrace.

Each and every planet is being provided an upgrade on their sensor packages, by manufacturer SensoCorp, Inc. for absolutely free! Here we have a quote from a press release:

"We at SensoCorp want to thank each and every one of you for purchasing our homeworld Sensor packages. We take pride in our ability to inform you of direct incomings, as well as incomings to nearby sectors.

In an effort to better serve you, the consumer, a technician will be to your planet between seven and eleven A.M., today, to install a new Hyperpass (tm) Filter, and all the software needed. An adult must be at your planet to accept the package."

This new filtration system now shows passing fleets, not just fleets landing nearby. This is an artists rendering of what the fleet-bottom and incomings screens may look like:

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planets :
fleet 2 reached the planet Long Long Long Long Name1
fleet 3 reached the planet Alpha3

Good morning, Katie. Well folks, is has been a quiet few days here at Spacetrace. We are summing up the past few days here, as our recording equipment has been down for the last few days, and Katie and I spent the weekend vacationing on Nanoboard.

Mighty has been found again, under yet a new name. Several TO members staged an attack, with some wins and some losses to their credit. Reports state that Mighty has been holding his ground, with no assistance from other planets.

Also notable is the poor showing of the "resistance" which was to take down TO. Right Katie?

Thats right, Sam. Plus, we still have no word on the Gunslingers, which will begin as a splinter group from TO, possibly the beginning of the end of Total Ownage.

In other news, Defiance has been completely dominated by the children of Total Ownage academy. Defiance filed paperwork to have TOa cease attacks, and after a third party, the Trailer Park Crew, attacked TOa, the headmasters accepted the defeat.

The SM "beheader" strikes again at the Black Hole, leaving at least one stranded fleet. The fleet admiral, Gotsex, who was thankfully off his mothership at the time, issued the following statement:

"To me that is a very cheap tactic, killing your mothership. Now i have all of my manpower at the blackhole stuck."

We saw several Total Ownage fleets shark what was left from Gotsex in a couple hours time, freeing Gotsex's manpower for him.

In the computer and science realm, NeutralZone develops new reversible tracking satellites. We have GNN coorespondant and fleet analyist Roy Finklestein with us today. Roy?

Thank you. Neutralzone, creators of the Hyperpass Calculator, now invented a stunning new piece of equipment, the Vector Calculator. We have been given a prototype for demonstrative purposes. Can we have a dsp, please? Thank you. Here you can see a fleet passing through the scanned field:

fleet 2 from Swords of Cerebus
698 16 2 2
451.52/511.44/50.62

6.029;-10.039;-9.373

All we have to do is enter the numbers...like so...and here. We can calculate the target.

You can see here that the fleet's movements are calculated out to several sectors, and a logical, educated guess will bring you to the right coords. In this case, we believe the fleets to have travelled from 450/514/53 to 468/484/25.

The applications are limitless.

Thanks for the demo, Roy. Is this for sale yet?

No Sam. We understand that NZ Tech is not selling the Vector Calculator at this time.

Thank you.

We have reached the end of our program, and we would like to conclude with this front row photograph of the Flying Dutchman vs the Cold Blooded Killer:

ScanCorp, inventors of the "Eye in the Sky" mobile probe, has reduced the manpower necessary to run the ship to about 300 crew members. With us today is Victor Torrez, from ScanCorp. Good Morning, Victor.

Good morning, Sam and Katie. Love the Show!

Thanks. So what changes have been made to the "Eye in the Sky"?

Well, as you know, the EITS is our newest probe system, and we believe it is our finest. The original EITS needed a crew of approximately 500, and our R&D staff here at ScanCorp have safely and efficiently reduced those positions by two fifths.

Well, Vic, what was done?

The engine room now contains several robotic maintenance droids, as well as new "smart" regulators, cutting almost 100 personnel. In addition, the probe readers in the Control Room were updated, eliminating the need for another 40 employees.

With these two cuts, we were able to shrink the ship's size, enabling us to cut janitorial, food service, maid service, and half of the masseurs.

What do these changes mean to the average planet ruler?

Well, since the EITS has been updated, about 200 positions are able to be moved to other ships, enhancing your fleet's power. Also, these changes mean that if you lose your EITS, you do not lose as many manpower, thus saving you points in the end.

This week we had the loss of Connor McCloud, creating a three man contest for the number one position, which has been contested by Tea Cup, Roland, and Guns.

On the other end of the scale, we have been watching a race between Lance of Armcedy, Blackmagic, Wakka, and Please dont Kill me. They are all in the same score area, and it will be fun to see who pushes through to the midscores.

The Flying Dutchman, headed by William Wallace, has grown to eight members, and has succesfully snatched the flag of rival alliance CBK.
Scoreplanets:

the alliance DESTRUCTION has control over the Black Hole at 500/500/50

We have seen the Black Hole change hands a couple times this week, but not really too many epic battles. We did get quite a surprise when a non allied player sucessfully battled two members of TO, and took the hole.

the alliance Space Mercenaries Inc. has control over the Chronoton Nebula at 433/480/44

Please dont kill me of the Space Mercs occupies the Nebula singlehandedly. The Nebula has been something of a hot spot, with TLA and 128th Spaceborne Rangers making appearances.

the alliance NeutralZone has control over the Graviton Pulsar at 429/510/52

We have word that the Gunslingers are planning a war on The Flying Dutchman. A want-ad in the Spacetrace classifieds was published today by Gunslinger Evans, looking for the coords of Wile E. Coyote, of TFD fame.

For those of you just tuning in, The Flying Dutchman is currently at war with Cold Blooded Killers (CBK). It is believed that the Gunslinger "piggybacking" the CBK, is not an assist to the Killers, but their own, separate war. However, alalysts say that the Killers and Slingers are sharing resources, and will divide up targets among the two allainces.

TFD is still reeling from the shock of having to fight two alliances at once, and maintains their position of peace towards Gunslingers.

Wile E. Coyote's coords have also eluded the Cold Blooded Killers, as Wile E. is likely a very new account, and hasnt been spotted as of yet. Private astronomer Ian Trombski has been working for hours on the project:

"Alls what I do is look through my telerscope, most times I kin see somethin new, n jest probe it out." Trombski stated in an interview this morning. "I reckon I can make some purdy good money from the CBKs, or them Gunslangers."

Kamekaze, leader and founder of the Gunslingers, has expressed dissapointment with Evans for revealing their weakness. In a press release today Kame stated:

"This is no way to get co ords. it is wrong. please no one pay attention to evans he did not get authorization to do this."

It is understood that even though Evans was considered "out of line" by the Gunslinger Administration, they will still accept Wile E.'s Coords.

Word on the street says that if Wile E. was not the flag commander of TFD yesterday, he will be flag commander tommorrow.

GNN news, live at a secret location, Im Heg MacMuffin._________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.

We have a new development in the TFD/Gunslinger war... TFD had their flag snatched by the Gunslingers. Here we have a photograph of some Gunslinger members celebrating after the Flag Grab:

And now a special announcement by The Trailer Park Crew:
"The Trailer Park Crew is sad to announce the retirement of one of it's members.
Wakka of final Fantasy World is leaving the TPC in persuit of other interests. Wakka was a deffinite asset to the TPC and carried the alliance through difficult times. He held position of Flag Commander and also the position of CoW. He was a loyal member and fierce combatant. Many will testify to the later I'm sure.
It is unsure if Wakka is departing ST for good or just switching to another alliance to further his skills. We certainly hope he continues to play. He will be an asset to any alliance who is lucky enough to accept him.

In closing, I personally and on behalf of the Trailer Park Crew wish Wakka the best in whatever road he chooses."

GNN news, Sam Ricklebaum and Katie Salinator, good day.

And now stay tuned for our feature presentation, "Blazing Saddles"._________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.

On the top, we have Guns and Tea Cup breaking away from the pack with some serious gains for the week. Tea Cup has a substantial lead at the moment.
The bottom four are beginning to separate from their neck and neck introduction to the Scoreboards, with Please Dont Kill Me taking the lead. Wakka has been inactive for 7 days, and as we broadcasted earlier on GNN News, has finished with the account. We are expecting Lance to poke his way through to #10 shortly.
And now the alliance scores, top five:

These are the only alliances with a relative score over 100,000. Strangely, the to five is dominated by smaller alliances; three member Space Mercs, three member Masterhunters, and four member Spaceborne Rangers fill out three of the positions, With the Gunslingers and Flying Dutchman holding at seven members currently. Even seven is a comparatively small allaince, as we usually see some ten member teams in the top.

For our Flagholding allainces, we have:
Gunslingers with Flying Dutchman's flag, and Flying Dutchman with the Cold Blooded Killer's flag. It has to be a rough one trying to regain your flag while holding the defense of an occupied flag.

The alliance Tecrons has control over the Black Hole at 500/500/50

Tecrons is a small, one man alliance, and this is not the first time we have seen him holding the esteemed Black Hole. Nice work!

The alliance The Light Alliance has control over the Chronoton Nebula at 433/480/44

TLA has been displaying a tenacity unmatched by most others, fighting numerous battles but coming out on top again!

To find out who controls the Gravitron Pulsar, see all of our other weekly updates. NZ is at the top, with 85 days of occupation under their belts.

Hi Sam. Disaster strikes for the Masterhunters here in Spacetrace. The Light Alliance has snatched their flag, in what TLA leader Rhynar described as an act of vengence. Apparantly, Blackmagic, longtime leader of Masterhunters, has taken been defending MH Lance succesfully, and has given TLA a run for their money. Well, the battle has been taken to Rhynar's world now, in a flurry of attacks designed to reclaim their flag.

Blackmagic has released a statement about their lost flag:

"Wat! Did I miss something? They got our flag, rite?"
-Blackmagic

Rhynar is proud of the flag grab, as his alliance has been ranked negative for quite a while. And he should be, right Sam.

Thats right Katie. Masterhunters has been around for a very, very long time, and has been home to many top players over the years. A flag grab on them is surprising from a lesser foe. TLA has done their homework on this one.

Here is a recent photograph of Masterhunters planning their flag liberation, and revenge:

In other news, The war between Gunslingers, Cold Blooded Killers, The Flying Dutchman, and Defiance is well under way, and the tables have not turned drastically in either way.

The Flying Dutchman were pained by the loss of their flag, and also by the CBK flag being taken from TFD. TFD has resorted to claiming gangbanging, in return for GS and CBK claiming gangbanging first. Fleet analyst Duke Mavroleon:

"Gangbanging is a fact of life. Get used to it."

The big wars have caused some relief for the Scoreplanets, with only sporadic fighting there.

Also in the reports are statements eluding to the assimilation of the Space Mercs into the Gunslinger ranks. It is unknown why the Mercs have given their loyalty to a cause, as opposed to their long standing "for hire" status. There is speculation that they recieved a hefty sum to fly the GS colors for good. Only time will tell._________________THE source for intergalactic news... from the far reaches of the galaxy to your Command Post. GNN news, it's your universe.